| Leizhou Min | |
| Also Known As: | Leizhounese |
| Nativename: | pronounced as /[lɔi˩ uɛ˨˦]/ |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /[lɔi˩ uɛ˨˦]/ (Lei city dialect) |
| States: | China, Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, United States (California) |
| Region: | Leizhou Peninsula in southwestern Guangdong |
| Speakers: | around 2.8 million in China |
| Date: | 2004 |
| Ref: | [1] |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Sinitic |
| Fam3: | Chinese |
| Fam4: | Min |
| Fam5: | Coastal Min |
| Fam6: | Qiong–Lei |
| Dia1: | Zhanjiang |
| Ancestor: | Proto-Sino-Tibetan |
| Ancestor2: | Old Chinese |
| Ancestor3: | Proto-Min |
| Iso3: | none |
| Glotto: | leiz1236 |
| Glottorefname: | Leizhou |
| Lingua: | 79-AAA-jj |
| Map: | Min dialect map.svg |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Iso3comment: | (is proposed[2]) |
Leizhou or Luichew Min is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Leizhou city, Xuwen County, Mazhang District, most parts of Suixi County and also spoken inside of the linguistically diverse Xiashan District. In the classification of Yuan Jiahua, it was included in the Southern Min group, though it has low intelligibility with other Southern Min varieties. In the classification of Li Rong, used by the Language Atlas of China, it was treated as a separate Min subgroup.[3] Hou Jingyi combined it with Hainanese in a Qiong–Lei group.[4]
Leizhou Min has 17 initials, 47 rimes and 8 tones.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ 魔 | pronounced as /link/ 娜 | pronounced as /link/ 俄 | |||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ 磨 | |||||
| pronounced as /link/ 波 | pronounced as /link/ 刀 | pronounced as /link/ 哥 | ||||
| pronounced as /link/ 坡 | pronounced as /link/ 駝 | pronounced as /link/ 戈 | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ 尿 | |||||
| pronounced as /link/ 所 | pronounced as /link/ 何 | |||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ 槽 | |||||
| pronounced as /link/ 切 | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | pronounced as /link/ 羅 | |||||
| zero consonant | zero consonant 窩 | |||||
The phoneme given here as pronounced as //b// is described by Li and Thompson instead as pronounced as //v//.[5]
| pronounced as /link/ 濟 | pronounced as /link/ 敷 | ||
| pronounced as /link/ 爸 | pronounced as /ia/ 兵 | pronounced as /ua/ 瓜 | |
| pronounced as /link/ 馬 | pronounced as /iɛ/ 爺 | pronounced as /uɛ/ 妹 | |
| pronounced as /link/ 波 | pronounced as /iɔ/ 漿 | ||
| pronounced as /ai/ 派 | pronounced as /uai/ 蒯 | ||
| pronounced as /au/ 包 | pronounced as /iau/ 彪 | ||
| pronounced as /ɛu/ 嘔 | pronounced as /iu/ 休 | ||
| pronounced as /ɔi/ 矮 | pronounced as /ui/ 拉 | ||
| pronounced as /m̩/ 唔 | |||
| pronounced as /am/ 耽 | pronounced as /iam/ 添 | ||
| pronounced as /em/ 冚 | pronounced as /im/ 音 | ||
| pronounced as /ŋ̩/ 嗯 | pronounced as /iŋ/ 興 | pronounced as /uŋ/ 尊 | |
| pronounced as /aŋ/ 班 | pronounced as /iaŋ/ 江 | pronounced as /uaŋ/ 完 | |
| pronounced as /eŋ/ 冰 | pronounced as /ieŋ/ 填 | ||
| pronounced as /ɔŋ/ 磅 | pronounced as /iɔŋ/ 永 | ||
| pronounced as /ap/ 合 | pronounced as /iap/ 臘 | ||
| pronounced as /ep/ 鑷 | pronounced as /ip/ 立 | ||
| pronounced as /ik/ 集 | pronounced as /uk/ 郁 | ||
| pronounced as /ak/ 達 | pronounced as /iak/ 燭 | pronounced as /uak/ 括 | |
| pronounced as /ek/ 德 | pronounced as /iek/ 即 | pronounced as /uek/ 國 | |
| pronounced as /ɔk/ 鐸 | pronounced as /iɔk/ 略 |
Leizhou has six tones, which are reduced to two in checked syllables.
| Tone number | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yin ping (陰平) | pronounced as /˨˦/ (24) | rising | |
| 2 | yin shang (陰上) | pronounced as /˦˨/ (42) | falling (high falling) | |
| 3 | yin qu (陰去) | pronounced as /˨˩/ (21) | bottom (low falling) | |
| 4 | yin ru (陰入) | pronounced as /˥̚/ (5) | high checked | |
| 5 | yang ping (陽平) | pronounced as /˨/ (2) | low | |
| 6 | yang shang (陽上) | pronounced as /˧/ (3) | mid | |
| 7 | yang qu (陽去) | pronounced as /˥/ (5) | high | |
| 8 | yang ru (陽入) | pronounced as /˩̚/ (1) | low checked |